A Demon's Ballad
by RenegadeWaya
Summary: Naruto dies at the Valley of the End and is reborn on a familiar island to a loving memory without memories of his past. But the world is cruel and the more thing change the more things stay the same and Naruto's new childhood has its own tragedies. When the world takes away the one thing he's ever wanted he vows to bring it to its knees. Naruto x Robin x ? !NonChakraNaruto
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I neither own Naruto nor One Piece; if I did they'd likely be much darker stories with more realistic (i.e. not as stupid) characters.**

 _Thoughts are Italics_

 **Chapter 1: An intro, a family and exposition.**

Naruto was dying, not that he expected it to end any other way; a Chidori to the heart kind of sets such a thing in stone. The only thing that was surprising about the situation was the fact that he was still cognizant enough to notice that fact. He still couldn't believe Sasuke had actually done it though; they were brothers in all but blood after all…right? Apparently that was both true and false at the same time if the mad cackling and Sasuke's new eyes were anything to go by.

Dying was a weird sensation. He was almost hyperaware of his surroundings yet at the same time it was like he was miles away. It made his head hurt, which surprised him as he didn't think a person could get a headache when they no longer had a heart to pump blood to their head. The fact remains that he had one though and the giant ass waterfall wasn't helping any.

 _I wonder why Sasuke is still here, he beat me so shouldn't he be running off to that pedophile by now?_

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a new presence show up new to them.

 _Kakashi what the hell is he doing here? Why isn't he trying to help me, or restrain Sasuke?_

His questions were quickly answered when Kakashi opened his mouth.

"Congratulations on your first completed S-class mission Sasuke."

Naruto was stunned. _What did he mean S-class mission, wasn't he running away, wasn't I sent to stop him?_

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei, he put up more of a fight than I thought he would but I guess that's what happens when you back a demon into a corner."

Kakashi just gave him his patented eye smile before turning to look at Naruto, who was currently in a state of denial.

"I see you managed to wound Sasuke eh demon? I'd make you pay for that but well you're already dying so there's nothing I can do to you…physically."

With those words said Kakashi's eye smile took on an extremely malevolent cast as he reached up to uncover his Hitai-ate. Instead of displaying the usual Sharingan eye it was different, similar to Sasuke's new eyes. "Tsukuyomi."

Hearing those words Naruto and Kakashi were transported to a red and black world. Throughout this Naruto was still fervently trying to deny the conclusions his own mind was making. He just couldn't understand what was happening, why Kakashi (who he knew had protected him in ANBU) thought he was a demon. It just couldn't be true, something had to be going on…right?

Kakashi for his part was explaining the details of his Genjutsu, though Naruto in his minds troubled state only caught the part about three days here equaling three seconds outside. Seemingly finished with his explanation Kakashi conjured a sword to his hand; apparently the copy-ninja wasn't above stealing from even an Uchiha. Just before Naruto, who was currently lashed to a cross, was about to impaled he managed to summon enough strength to speak.

"Kakashi-sensei…Inu-niisan…why are you doing this? Why do you think I'm a demon? It's a lie right? I know you really wouldn't think that or want to hurt me. I know you must be under a Genjutsu or something! Fight it…Kakashi…sensei."

Naruto slowly stopped speaking as Kakashi started laughing madly. It took a few minutes before the laughter subsided, during which Naruto increasingly became more worried.

"Ah…A joker even in the face of your own death eh Kyuubi? I keep forgetting how stupid all those seals have made you. Since I don't feel like explaining I'll do you one last favor by releasing them, after all you are one of my **precious** students **Naruto-kun**."

Kakashi spit out Naruto's name like it was the vilest thing to ever leave his mouth. While Naruto was desperately struggling to come to terms with his words Kakashi made a couple of hand-signs Naruto didn't recognize before putting a hand on his head with a yell of Kai. One word; that was all it took for Naruto to understand, one word. With the simple shout of Kai it all became clear as his memories changed. Some had their content altered, some had been made up and were now gone, while others had been sealed away entirely and came rushing back to him.

If Naruto had thought his life had been the closest comparison to hell before now then with the seal gone hell was now the closest comparison to his memories instead. The beatings, the torture, the insults, the starvation, it was nearly too much for his mind to experience without crumbling in on itself. It was pure agony to experience them in vivid detail once more, Kakashi probably realized this would happen if his perverse grin was anything to go by, but afterwards he finally understood.

Naruto, the stupid hyperactive ball of sunshine never existed. It was the product of all too many memory, emotional and intelligence seals that designed to keep him docile and with the intelligence of a six year old. So many things his sealed-self had held dear to his heart were lies. The old-man was the one who placed most of the seals, with the help of his dear student Jiraya. The Ichiraku's never actually existed in the first place and were a product of his damaged mind and a few Genjutsu. Even his dream to become Hokage and be recognized by the people of Konoha was a mixture of loyalty seals, emotion seals and mental "adjustment" (read torture/brainwashing).

Now Naruto Namikaze (yes he knew his parents, he had attempted to unleash the Kyuubi when he learned about it during a torture session when he was 7) understood what led him to this point. The old hag never cared for him; he distinctly remembers her giving tips to some of his younger tormentors and using him for medical "experiments"; she had sent him here to die. They couldn't outright have him executed due to the Fire Daimyo's relationship with his family, not to mention his relationship with Wave, Spring and Demon country. He still wasn't sure his sealed-self managed to accomplish that with the body of an emaciated ten year old and the mind of a seven year old. However, if he were to die on a legitimate mission that was an entirely different story and no one would blame Konoha.

That was probably the reason why he kept getting those kinds of "c-rank" missions and why the clients always appeared to be overly skeptical of his "team's" ability. That hadn't gone how they had planned though and he kept surviving despite all odds, probably curtsey of both the Kyuubi and his Devil's luck. Still didn't quite explain why he was still alive to this point though, did they get tired of their punching bag or something? Even if they sent him on what amounted to suicide missions, which he realized upon further review he almost did the entirety of the work for as Kakashi was always keeping his eye on his "teammates" in case something happened, leaving him to finish the mission.

Upon further thought he came up with a plausible reason why he was sent on suicide missions yet wasn't killed even when he completed them. He was their jinchuuriki, their weapon, and they would use him as such. The reason he was alive was because you don't throw a weapon away unless you find either a better one or it breaks. Thanks to his numerous seals he hadn't broken so what was the new weapon? Naruto figured it likely had to do with Sasuke's new eyes and his s-rank mission but truthfully he didn't care. He was just burying himself in thought to get away from the Kakashi's new torture technique. While he had extremely high pain tolerance that didn't mean it didn't hurt, and if what Kakashi just said he had another 71 hours 59 minutes and 55 seconds remaining. Naruto just wished Kakashi would let him die, he felt so tired physically and mentally. He knew the bastard wouldn't be that merciful however so he resigned himself to his fate, it's not like this was the first time he was tortured for days on end anyway and at least this time once it was over he'd finally be at peace.

It took roughly twenty hours in the Tsukuyomi before Naruto was able to find, apparently his body hadn't had even three seconds left to live and he finally died. The last thing Naruto heard was Kakashi complaining like a spoil child about how it was unfair for him to die so soon. The words didn't really register on a conscious level though as Naruto was too far gone at that point. His mind did have one final thought however, though it was more a subconscious hope than an actual thought, which was whether he'd finally be with his mother permanently.

-Line Break-

On Dawn Island a woman with blood red hair was screaming in pain as she gave birth. The sole other occupant of the small, slightly run-down cottage was an extremely old woman who was acting as a midwife. The woman was named Kushina D. Fox and the old woman was her grandmother Mito Uzumaki (she had retained her maiden name after grandfather passed away), the only member of her family that still cared for her. That hadn't always been the case but the nobles of Goa kingdom are fickle at best and when she had deigned to contaminate herself by falling in love with a commoner they had cut off contact faster than she could blink. It hadn't ended their though as her family, who had initially let her continue living with them in the hope of showing her the "error" of her ways, had kicked her out as soon as they found out she was pregnant.

Her boyfriend, and quickly there after husband, Minato D. Namikaze had been quick to take her in to his modest home, where she currently was now. Kushina desperately wished Minato was here at the moment as she desperately craved his support. It wasn't to be though as with the need to support both of them and their future child he had to work twice as much as before. Even then he was barely making more than he had with his old job once the news of his relationship with the former "princess" of Goa became known to the people in the city.

He was just happy they were still willing to hire him even if it he was doing the most dangerous jobs for half the wage as anyone else. At least she had her grandmother. Mito had never developed the same disdain towards commoners that the rest of the nobles in Goa (and probably the world) had. Probably because she herself was a commoner at one point that just happened to catch the then king's fancy. It was not a loving relationship and she was little more than a trophy wife but she still loved her children despite the nature of her "relationship" with their father. That was why she was so sad to see them follow in their father's footsteps, as when they grew up they eventually came to look down on her for being born a commoner, despite being their mother. They paid enough respect to her in public and didn't treat her the same way they eventually did Kushina but it was evident they didn't love their mother.

When Kushina was born however she was immediately Mito's favorite. She was born with the same blood red hair as herself, something that her own children hadn't possessed, and her personality was bubbly and happy. Despite her parents best attempts she had also never developed the same arrogance as the rest of her family and even tried to befriend the servants. Which was why when Kushina was kicked out of the palace Mito kept contact with her, even helped provide them with extra money with which to get by, and it was thanks to that, that Kushina wasn't giving birth alone.

With a final scream of effort Kushina gave one last push and the baby was born. Mito, when she saw the baby was immediately shocked and barely had the mental facilities available to do her job. Kushina, despite her exhausted state, evidently saw the shocked look on her grandmother's face and was instantly filled with worry and anxiety.

"What's wrong Mito-baachan is my Naru-chan ok? Please tell me he's ok?"

Thanks to Kushina's weakness she wasn't able to sit up enough to see her baby so Mito was quick to assure her that he was ok. Though Mito thought that it was fairly evident considering the crying the child was doing at the moment

"He's perfectly healthy, extremely so if those lungs are anything to go on. It's just…well see for yourself."

Mito walked to Kushina's side and showed her, her baby boy and what she saw immediately froze her brain for a few moments before she gave off a loud scream.

"KAWAIIIIII!"

Her Sochi was absolutely adorable. He had his father's sky blue eyes and her red hair, which she would have thought made him cute by itself. What made adorable however was somehow he not only had whisker marks but fox ears and a tail as well. Any other person would be confused, and probably frightened, about the…additions to their child, but Kushina was not most people. She would have loved her child if he had been born with a white moustache, a ten pack and an annoying ass laugh let alone something that made him even cuter than he should be (in her eyes).

Somewhere in the New World a certain pirate sneezed before glaring in the direct of East blue for a few moments before giving a hearty laugh (which surprised the sons that were talking to him at the time).

"Mito-baachan let me hold him! OH my Sochi is just the cutest thing in the world. I'm not sure where you got that tail or those ears but it just makes you absolutely adorable. You're going to have to beat the girls off with a stick haha."

Apparently her last words hadn't been processed consciously when she said them as when she finally realized what she had said she let out a low growl before possessively tightening her grip on Naruto.

"No way am I letting those Hussies' near my darling Naru-chan. I don't care who they are no one can date my Sochi until he is at least 18, no 20!"

Mito just sweat dropped at this. She was surprised of course by her great-grandchild's appearance but she still loved him and secretly agreed with Kushina's assessment on his cuteness. Mito however was an old woman who had a lot more insight into the psyches of the citizens of Goa City and new Naruto would have a very hard life. All she could do though is be thankful that he had such an obviously loving mother, and she hoped father too (though judging by what she knew of her granddaughter's husband his reaction would be much the same).

So Mito just let Kushina continue to rant about how no one would steal her darling Naru-chan from her. She'd bring up her concerns later but for now she didn't want to spoil such a touching scene. The scene only got even more heart-warming when Minato returned from work and saw his new son and ranting wife, and, much like Mito predicted, his reaction mirrored Kushina's own.

-Line Break-

It was Naruto's fourth birthday and he was vibrating excitedly in his chair as he waited for his dad to come home from work. His mom just watched him from the small kitchen, where she was making him his birthday dinner, while laughing softly to herself. Naruto was a bright ray of sunshine in both his parent's lives, and though their lives were hard they were all happy.

The day after Naruto was born Mito had expressed her concerns about the people's potential reactions towards Naruto. While the couple could never understand why they would hate their child they did however agree with Mito that they probably would. As a result Naruto has rarely left the house since he was born and had, aside from his family, had no friends. He didn't seem to mind though as he loved his parent's dearly and took their warnings to heart. Today was special though as his parent's had promised that they take him out to a nearby park for his birthday. He had to wear baggy clothing and a hoody to hide his tail and ears but he wasn't complaining; he was too excited to see what the outside was like.

Naruto, while smart for his age, didn't really understand why he had to do so as both him and his family loved them, but he also trusted his parents and believed them when they said it was important. He loved his tail and ears because his mother loved them so much and would constantly exclaim about how cute they made him look and when they went to bed she would slowly stroke them until he fell asleep. His family was poor and despite both his parents working, in his dads case two jobs, they could barely afford to feed themselves properly. Naruto didn't know it but they both were extremely underpaid for their dangerous work due to the prejudice people had for their relationship. If it wasn't for the extra money his grandma Mito helped give them they would been in a worse state. As a result they all slept in the same small bad, which Naruto personally loved as he got to snuggle more with his mom.

His dad always made jokes about how he was a momma's boy and didn't love him as much as her, which usually got a flying tackle hug from his son in response. Coming back to the present Naruto saw the door opening and was already gearing up for his patented flying hug of doom when he noticed that it wasn't his dad opening the door. Instead it was his grandma which confused him as she had said she wouldn't be able to make it to day and would make it up to him tomorrow. The expression on her face however, made him feel nervous, which only intensified when he heard the concern and borderline panic in his mom's voice.

"Mito-baachan, what are you doing here? Is everything ok?"

Mito looked like she was about to cry when she answered.

"Kushi-chan, its Minato…I'm so sorry."

Kushina look shell shocked as she tried to deny her grandmother's words.

"What are you saying baachan, Minato's fine, he's going to get off work soon and then we're going to take Naru-chan to the park."

Mito started crying then as she just sadly shook her head.

"No…No! You're wrong, he's fine. He's just…running a bit late!"

"Kushi-chan…I'm so sorry. He was working on the new tower and…he fell… I came as soon as I heard the news, I'm so sorry."

Kushina was becoming hysterical as she continued to try and deny what Mito was saying when she felt a tug on her pant leg.

"Mom, is dad ok?" Naruto looked up at her with a concerned but questioning look.

This was the straw that broke the camel's back as Kushina's legs collapsed on her and she enveloped Naruto in a hug, all the while sobbing uncontrollably. Mito was quick to join them in order to provide what comfort she could to the mother and son. Naruto wasn't quite sure what was happening but he understood that something bad had happened to his daddy. This new knowledge together with his crying mother finally let him understand that his dad wasn't coming home and he joined his family in their grief.

-Line-break-

Six years had passed since the day Naruto's father never came home from work and life for his family had gotten harder. His mother's health, between the numerous demanding jobs and lack of enough food (she always made sure Naruto had enough food to properly grow and as a result gave him a good portion of her own food), had been deteriorating slowly ever since. It only got worse when four years ago his grandma Mito has passed away. She had managed to hide a significant amount of money away for such an eventuality but even with their frugal spending it only lasted for eight months.

About a year and a half ago she finally lost most of her remaining strength and was all but confined to their shared bed 24/7. Naruto had, after Mito died, been sneaking out of the house while his mother was at work to go to the grey terminal in a bid to help lessen the burden on his mother. Unfortunately despite being smarter than most kids even a few years older than him he did not possess more strength than an adult. As a result his pickings had been rather meager and didn't contribute a significant amount to their living funds.

Even as he got older this still didn't change a significantly so when his mother finally became bed ridden he had to turn towards more…creative measures to ensure they had enough food to keep living. His mother didn't approve of him stealing but never said anything about it as she knew they didn't have a choice.

The thought of his mother brought a small smile to Naruto's lips. Despite all she had been through his mother never stopped loving him as strongly as she did the day he was born. If anything it even got stronger. Which was why seeing her struggling to stay alive through her most recent bout of sickness was incredibly painful. Naruto had been saving up money from his…earnings in order to afford a trip to the doctor for the mother. He still didn't have enough money but he was worried and he made a decision then and there that if he couldn't find a doctor that would treat her with the money he did have he'd use other means to ensure that they would.

With his mind set he carefully picked up his mother in a piggy back, her weight barely even affecting him as she was so incredibly thing. It was lucky that for some the vast majority of the people in the town were at the harbor for some reason as with his mom on his shoulder's he'd be hard pressed not to draw attention to himself. While he had so far been able to hide his ears and tail the fact that he was incredibly poor meant that he only had one set of cloths, which thanks to his activities marked him on sight as a thief by most citizens of the city.

Making his way through the back alleys and streets, more by habit than for any need to avoid people, Naruto headed toward the commercial district where the handful of public doctors set up shop. He wasn't certain one would be in, but if none were he'd pick one at random and "invite" himself into their homes to wait for their return.

Luckily for him there was actually a doctor available, and was apparently new to the city if his lack of reaction towards him and his mother was any indication. He was also willing to treat his mom for the limited amount of money he did possess, which he was thankful for while he wouldn't hesitate to employ other means to get his cooperation that didn't mean he enjoyed it. It had less to do with his own morals than his mother's, who would disapprove of his actions even if she would never hate him for them.

It took the doctor around an hour to diagnose and do the initial treatment for his mother. Apparently she was suffering from malnourishment, a weakened immune system and an extremely bad case of the flu, all of which would have resulted in her dying in a couple of days without medicine. When he heard that Naruto paled considerably as he broke out in a cold sweat, though it wasn't noticeable to the doctor thanks to the shadow his hood cast over his face. The doctor continued on to tell him the proper way to care for his mother before sending him on his way with extra medicine to help her recover better, free of charge. His willingness to treat his mother alone was enough for him to be permanently in Naruto's good books but when he gave him free medicine Naruto actually started crying though he showed no visible sign of it beyond his tears.

Thanking him profusely Naruto once more lifted his mother in a piggy back as he left the doctor's home. The doctor would have offered to help him but he had a missing leg so that made it difficult. Naruto didn't mind as he was both taller and stronger than average for his age, standing at five foot even, so he was able to stand up straight even with his foot taller mother on his back.

For once in a long time Naruto was actually hopeful for what the next day would be like. His mother would get better as long as she took the medicine every day and got enough food, and eventually might even be able to play with him again. The thought made him sport a wide happy grin as he lost himself in the dream of playing with his mother once more. As a result, instead of going through the alley he meant to he accidently walked onto a main street, right in front of what appeared to be some kind of procession.

What finally drew Naruto's attention was when he bumped into someone he recognized to be wearing a Navy uniformed and fell into the open street, right in front of the moving procession. The fall caused him to drop his hold on his mother and they were separated by the time he caught himself. Naruto in his panic to check on his mother's safety didn't notice the horrified looks the surrounding people were giving him, something he would come to regret.

What Naruto didn't realize was that he had just gotten in the way of a world noble who had decided to visit Goa Kingdom. Naruto knew someone or something important was happening today from both the crowding of the docks and the previous burning of the Grey terminal didn't know that it was a Celestial Dragon. If he had he would have immediately grabbed his mother and ran as far and as fast as he could in order to save their lives. As it were he did not and spent the precious seconds of shock his mistake caused making sure his mother was safe instead of running.

The visiting Celestial Dragon finally managed to shake off the shock at seeing someone arrogant enough to block their path (he didn't care that it was apparently an accident) and was quickly filled with anger.

"You! How dare you block my path you worthless scum! Marines In the name of the Celestial Dragons I order you to execute these people at once!"

The surrounding marines were able to shake themselves out of their stupor at his orders and barely evened hesitated to draw their guns and aim them at the child. Naruto for his part was panicking as he finally realized what important person was coming to the city today, and the realization made his stomach sink with dread. Naruto, while afraid to die, was more afraid for his mother than himself and in his haste to try and shield her body with his own didn't realize she was awake.

Kushina had actually woken up before Naruto had left the doctor's house but was content to just let her Sochi carry her home in silence. That combined with her still recovering body meant she had noticed the people in the street the same time Naruto had. The fall had hurt her though, thanks to her feeble body, and as a result didn't know who was in the street until he heard him speak, and his words terrified her. She knew her Sochi, knew him so well that she realized exactly what he would do before he even did it. So when Naruto reached her side, with a strength that she should not have possessed, she jumped on him and shielded his body with her own just in time to intercept the hail of bullets aimed at them both.

Whether by some trick of fate or something else her fragile body not only managed to protect Naruto from harm completely but also retained enough power for her to say her last words to her son.

"Sochi, don't blame yourself for what happened. It's not your fault. I love you more than anything in the world and am more proud of you than I can ever express in words. So please Naru-chan listen to your mother one last time. I want you to live."

With those words Kushina died, her body still protectively covering her son, her face though covered in blood frozen in a happy smile. For Naruto it was too much and something within him broke. His eyes permanently turned red in his grief as memories from a past life flooded his mind. His hysterical sobbing however did not go unnoticed by the surrounding marines who, without even hesitating, reloaded their weapons and prepared to fire once more. The clicking sound of their guns being cocked was enough for Naruto to remember his mother's last words. Reacting on instinct honed from two lives alone he dodged between the marine encirclement, leaving his mother's dead body behind before he even realized his actions. He wanted to go back for her, he need to go back for her, but something in him kept him running and it was breaking his heart even more to do so.

He had finally had the loving family he wanted in his last life only for it to slowly be taken away from him, first his father, then his grandmother, and when it finally looked like he'd be able to heal her she was taken away from him as well. All because of the fucking world government and their marine lapdogs. On that day as a broken boy ran desperately away from the still warm body of his mother, a vow was made; A vow to see the death of the world government, the celestial dragons, and the marine, so swore Naruto D Fox, formerly known known as Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze on the blood of his mother that still covered his body.

 **AN: New story, one of many I had the idea and the framework for but not the time to put into writing. Naruto will not have chakra in this story and will instead of other ways of fighting (a devil fruit might show up in the future but that will be latter on in the story and he will have fights without it first). The pairing for this story will be Naruto x Robin. I might add someone else and make it a polyamorous relationship but don't know who to add. I ship Luffy x Nami and Zoro x Tashigi so they are out. It can be any other side character or even an OC if you give me enough to work with. Let me know your ideas. The timeline is slightly different in this, most characters are the same age but Robin is younger than canon (and thus Ohara happened later than canon) being only a year older than Naruto is (and thus 4 years older than luffy). Might make a difference, might not read more to find out.**

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Ren**


	2. Chapter 2

It's been two days since Naruto's mother died saving him and his past memories came back to him and he was still an emotional wreck. It's hard for a person to deal with the emotional baggage one life gives, especially if that life is shitty, let alone two. When Naruto started running he didn't stop until he was deep in the woods, where he promptly collapsed into a fitful sleep. Not the smartest or safest, decision but he wasn't really in a position to think things through calmly or rationally at the time. During the two days he remained in the same spot, not moving to even find something to eat or drink, trying to put his mind in order.

He didn't want his previous set of memories but he couldn't just get rid of them so he took the time to try and integrate the more beneficial ones into his new identity. Things like his stealth abilities, trap making, survival skills and other useful things that his new self either hadn't learned or hadn't learned to his previous level. It was slow going as many of those memories were tied to…less than pleasant events. It didn't help that he was still broken, emotionally, due to his mother's death.

Soon though he'd have to get up and find some food and water if he didn't want to die, and despite all the shit he's been through Naruto was a survivor and didn't want to die….yet. One interesting difference he found in his new body, despite the…interesting physical differences, was that it was completely devoid of chakra. Naruto was upset by this for a few reasons, chief among them being one, that he lost his godlike stamina and two; he couldn't use any shinobi abilities and thus was as weak as a civilian now. Though he did wonder why the hell he had a fucking tail and ears, which (to him) seems like they came from the Kyuubi.

Most of these thoughts that were running through his mind were a distraction, used to push aside his grief enough for him to move about and find supplies. They were valid all the same however and he resolved himself to try to figure out why. While most of his plant knowledge from his Shinobi life seemed useless, Naruto was still able to determine which plants were poisonous and which were not. As a result he found enough food, combined with a small nearby stream, to ensure he lived for at least another day or two.

For about another week and a half this pattern continued. For about two days Naruto would try to sort out his mind and deal with his grief before scavenging enough supplies for about a day and repeating the process. It was not very healthy and even though it lasted only about two weeks in total his, already thin, body lost weight. Naruto didn't particularly care though; he had suffered through worse before.

After that two week period he had finally recovered enough to function semi normally, the loss still hurt him immensely but he was an old hand at all kinds of pain, even emotional. He had also more or less succeeded in integrating the more useful parts of his past memories with his current self, though his personality was now much more withdrawn and colder than it had been as a result. Now Naruto was once more scavenging for food, though he now had to travel further from his spot due to picking the nearby area dry.

About two hours later Naruto had found enough food for the day and was heading back to his spot by the stream when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Despite his near mental breakdown during the past two weeks Naruto had still kept in his mind the fact that he had fled from the marines trying to kill him. He was grateful that he hadn't found him while he was vulnerable but as time continued to pass he got more and more paranoid. His reasoning was if they had searched for him after his escape and still hadn't found him that meant they were taking things slow so as to not let him escape.

He had wondered briefly if they would have bothered but his natural paranoia combined with the fact that he had offended a Celestial Dragon meant he didn't put much faith in that thought. As a result when he saw that it was a squad of marines that was the source of the footsteps he was not surprised. The good news was that the marines were fairly inept at spotting someone hiding, since let's face bright red hair is not very conducive to stealth and his clothes were much too tattered to hide his head and tail after two weeks in the forest. The bad news however was that he noticed another, much larger, group trailing behind the first and they were loaded for bear…or a really big fox.

As far as Naruto could tell while it would be easy to bypass the first group it would by much harder to escape past the second. Plus, knowing his luck in these kinds of situations, there were bound to be other groups all over the forest so there was no guarantee that any other direction he fled in would be safe. Still the forest was huge and he doubted they would be able to cover it all, plus even if they did there was always other means of escape. Non-Shinobi really seemed to have a hard time grasping the fact they should look up when searching for someone in a forest.

Naruto, even while coming up with several escape plans and contingencies, was able to easily shadow the group he had bumped into. Whatever else he could, and would, say to disparage the marines he had to at least grudgingly admit they were professional and didn't idly chatter, which didn't help me learn any useful information. Since Naruto had no Chakra, no weapons and had the body of a ten year old he had decided to simply escape through the tree canopy, despite how much he wanted revenge.

Thankfully he had a large amount of practice climbing and moving through trees both with and without chakra so it was fairly simple to break the 'encirclement'. It was after he been traveling for a few minutes after bypassing the second group of marines that he ran into a group with him. That fat, arrogant son of whore that gave the order that killed his mother. He was surrounded by both, a large contingent of marines and a retinue of knights in armor, likely his personal guards. While the site of him alone would have set his blood boiling and clouded his judgement, what he was dragging behind him that caused him to cease all rational thought and launch himself at the man from fifty feet in the air.

It was his mother, or at least her corpse, being dragged behind that useless piece of human garbage. Apparently the sack of shit was smarter than Naruto had thought he was, though he was too far gone to realize that fact beyond a purely subconscious level. All Naruto heard was the man smugly stating that the 'Fox bait' had worked before he felt multiple impacts on his body. They had been ready for him, more than that they had been expecting him, and he had fallen for their trap hook line and sinker. The multiple gunshots had briefly halted his momentum, Naruto had been idly surprised about that and the fact that he hadn't instantly died, but he quickly resumed falling the remaining twenty or so feet. The last thought in his mind was one born from a rather detached, idle curiosity about how they knew he had fox traits, before everything went black.

-Line Break-

He was in a familiar sewer…again. He would have thought having a much better childhood, comparatively, would have changed his mindscape. Guess not. Maybe he was a natural pervert? People always say to get your mind out of the gutter when you think they mean something inappropriate when they say something confusing. He didn't think he was a pervert…although he did create that stupid jutsu, but he blamed that on the seals so maybe it was just all men are natural perverts or something.

"Oi, dumbass stop spacing out and fucking listen to me. This is one of the many reasons why I despise humans in general and you in particular, you're all stupid."

Ah, he made the fox mad again. They never got along; even when he had tried to release the giant fur ball he had still mocked him. He didn't hate the fox though, he kind of agreed with his stance on people for the most part anyways. Oops, he was ignoring the fox again; better respond so he stops that menacing growl of his.

"Yo, Fuzzbutt didn't expect to ever see you again, what's up."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, at least that's what he thought judging from the fact he was nearly impaled by a giant claw.

"Fucking mouthy brat, learn some respect you mongrel!"

Hm? His vocabulary seems to be slightly different from what he remembered. Also, was it just him or did the giant fox seem a bit transparent?

"Meh, you know me Furball, never respected the elderly before not gone start now. That said, how the hell are you here, I know I died so shouldn't you be free, also why can I see through you?"

The Kyuubi just gave another deep growl in response.

"Come on, lighten up. It's the least you could do for someone who's dying…again."

"Peh, I couldn't care less if you died _boy._ But for the sake of moving this aggravating conversation along I'll explain things in simple words even _you_ would understand. The seal the shit stain that your father used to seal me tied me to the pathetic thing you call your soul. When you die I die, when you're reborn I'm reborn with you once more trapped inside of you. Thanks to a nice little loophole I found though my chakra didn't have to go with me. As a result I'm little more than a soul myself; hence the reason for the improvements to your appearance as there was no chakra to act as a buffer in either of us our souls are quite closely tied together, as disgusting as that is."

"Well that explains something I've been wondering about…sort of. But why in the hell would you do that? Seems like kind of a stupid idea if you ask me."

"Well I didn't ask you _human_ but I'll be kind and explain myself to you."

"…Bullshit, what do you want? No way you, kind of all things sarcastic and mean, would be _nice_ so what are you after."

"Oh? Smarter than before are you? Fine, what I want is to be free from you, forever. The reason that I didn't take my chakra was that if I did you never would have released me, both because you know I'd go on a rampage when you did and that it would have killed you. Now that I'm little more than a soul there would be pretty much no damage if you released me, and since my chakra is far away from here I'd be instantly drawn towards it, thus no fun little killing spree in your general vicinity."

"Well since neither of us has chakra you are kind of useless to me and I have no real reason to keep you. I'd be willing to release you, but I need to know what's in it for me?"

"You mean besides me not doing my hardest to make your life hell every moment, both awake and asleep, of your life? I'll heal your body one last time, which, you should know, is basically dead and buried in a shallow grave at the moment."

Without even hesitating Naruto shouted out "Deal!" before moving to open the seal, which didn't seem to require the key (Naruto thought it was likely because the key had been destroyed or something similar). The Kyuubi for his part just looked contemplative as he watched the annoying brat that was his container, free him. He was always such an odd child and the fact that he didn't even doubt that he'd fulfill his end of the agreement made him decide to, grudgingly, not screw him over. He still hated the brat but at least he was a bit better than most humans, the fact that he looked part fox didn't hurt either. So with a loud roar the Kyuubi enveloped Naruto in the red light associated with his Chakra. He had lied to the boy of course, he did have some chakra left and he would have continued to recover more as time went on but hey foxes are called tricksters for a reason.

-Line Break-

Naruto woke up struggling to breathe. Like the Kyuubi had said he had been buried (though he had to wonder why, maybe a guilty marine?) and his mouth and nose were covered in soil. Thankfully he was only covered in a few inches of loose soil so it was relatively easy to break free. The first thing he noticed was that it was night which, considering he had gone foraging right after he woke up in the morning, surprised him. He had to wonder how he had stayed alive for so long or maybe it was that it took him this long to heal. He was running on the belief that it was still the same day of course which, since he didn't have reason to believe otherwise, made since.

The next thing he noticed, besides the fact that the dirt in his mouth was _wiggling_ , was the fact that he had been buried with his mother. He was thankful that she had been finally buried but the sight of her body was too much for him and he quickly turned away. Naruto wondered who had bothered to bury them, he assumed it was a guilty marine but he was still skeptical. He also wondered why that Noble had been so determined in his pursuit of him that he had both hunted him personally and set up both bait and a trap. The fact that he had said 'Fox bait' meant that they had likely caught sight of either his ears, tail or both when he ran and he wondered if that had something to do with it.

Naruto of course did not know how close he was when he thought that but he wouldn't find out until later in the future. For now Naruto busied himself with cleaning the dirt off him as best he could while also fixing his former grave. He wanted to bury his mother deeper but had neither the ability nor tools to do so. He settled on simply piling more dirt on top of the spot instead before searching for a suitable grave marker.

There wasn't much he could do so he had to use some loose rocks along with a sturdy broken branch. That along with a roughly carved inscription on the nearby tree would have to serve as best they can. At least he would be able to find the spot if he searched for it this way. Naruto spent the next few hours praying on the grave before leaving to search for food and water, his mouth still tasted too much of dirt and worms for his liking.

For about a week he stayed in the forest, everyday doing little else beyond forage for supplies and pray at his mother's grave. He came more to terms with her loss before and the closure was nice, but no amount of closure would fix the hole in his heart or the unadulterated rage he felt towards the people who did this.

By the end of that week long period he was confident that no one was searching for him anymore and that the marines and the noble were gone and that it was safe for him to leave the forest. He didn't have anywhere to go per say but he didn't want to stay in the forest any more. Since he desired even less to live in Goa or even stay on the island he was planning on finding a ship to stow away on as quickly as possible. There were many problems inherent in his decision but he'd deal with them as they came up and not any sooner.

Sneaking into the city was child's play for Naruto, especially since it was night, and he easily made it inside without being spotted. Since he pretty much hated everyone he knew of in the city, and was already inclined to hate those he didn't, he had little qualms about breaking into homes and stealing things he needed. Amongst his ill-gotten gains was a large amount of money, non-perishable food, containers of water, a couple sets of close that fit relatively well, a rather gaudy pair or daggers and a rugged backpack to store it all in.

It didn't take him more than an hour to gather all that so he had plenty of night left to break into the port authority office to find a ship leaving tomorrow. If he had known how to sail or navigate he would have just taken a smaller boat for himself, but he didn't (though he resolved to learn how to later if he could). Breaking into the office was even easier than the homes of those nobles, mostly because the door was unlocked and no one was inside. There were a few ships that were leaving tomorrow but since there were no destinations listed he chose one at random.

Sneaking on board the ship was a bit harder than he had expected. Not only was there a semi-attentive night watch but there were few places to hide. Still he managed and quickly sequestered himself in a dark corner of the cargo hold. He had enough supplies for about a week, two if he rationed himself strictly, so he simply set up some simple camouflage, in the form of a wall of boxes, and went to sleep without searching for the crew's provision stores.

His sleep is plagued by nightmares, well more like past memories, as has been the case since that day. Despite what he has said you can't really 'integrate' too past lives, at least not in a convenient way that you can pick and choose what to and what to not remember. What he did was basically repress as many 'useless' memories as he possibly could while focusing on those he wanted to keep focused. Thankfully he has a lot of practice repressing bad memories so he can't recall them, unless he actively tries to, while he's awake. Unfortunately one can't control their own unconscious mind and all those repressed memories are available to relive while he's asleep.

At least he's used to them and despite the content he's able to sleep through the rest of the night and some of the morning, albeit fitfully. When he awoke it was to the sound of men rushing around, seagulls crying and waves smacking the hull. Apparently the ship was now under way. While Naruto munches on some sort of meat jerky he plans his next moves. First of all he needed to train; he needed to get stronger if he ever wanted to get revenge.

Oh yes, he wanted revenge so much it almost physically hurt to know the bastard that killed his mother was still alive. He was struggling to keep it from consuming him, as he saw what that did to Saskue and he in no way wanted to even be close to similar to the bastard. Still he couldn't deny what he both felt and wanted so he didn't bother, he just directed that energy to more beneficial (to him) purposes.

He'd start training during this trip, it's not like he had anything else to do, and continue from there. Thankfully his space, thanks to some creative stacking, was about the size of a normal bedroom and was enough for some basic body weight exercises. He'd worry about other exercises when he wasn't stuck on a boat.

As Naruto started to crank out push-ups he thought of what else he needed to do. Obviously he needed a way to earn money, he was happy to steal from the people of Goa but he knew how his mother felt about his, less than legal, activities. He didn't want to disappoint his memory of her so he'd either need to find work, steal from criminal or become a bounty hunter. He could of course just scavenge for any supplies he might need, but that's not the only purpose money would have. Money can buy influence, information and weapons, all of which would be useful to him in the future.

So that left the other options, none of which was really ideal. Regular jobs, that would hire a 10 year old with a fox tail and ears, don't pay that highly and aren't suitable for his needs. If he was a bounty hunter the money would be good but he'd have to deal with marines to turn in bounties, plus the fact that it doesn't give a stable income. Stealing from criminals would mean using ill-gotten money and would involve the hassle of both finding said criminals, plus like bounty hunting the income would be intermittent.

He figured he'd just do some combination of the three, plus maybe stealing from the government and marines (he didn't think of that as something his mother would frown on). His mother, hell his family in general, confused him slightly. He didn't quite understand how both his parents had both looked exactly the same as his last life but had almost exactly the same names as well. The only difference was his father's last name was Fox (ironically) and both his parents (and him) and the middle initial of D. He still hadn't figured out what that stood for, whenever he asked his mother she just laughed softly in response.

At the moment thinking about it did nothing for him so he just chalked it up to a quirk of fate and left it at that. He also wondered how long he'd been 'dead' and if this was even the same world as his last, but he had no way of finding answers currently so he didn't bother with that either.

So training and the accumulation of wealth is on his list. The only other thing he could think of is finding comrades to help him with his goals. Without access to chakra he knew he couldn't take on the world government and the marines by himself without help. That being said due to both his life's experiences he was not the most trusting of individuals. The only reason he had made as many 'friends' as he had last time was because they were either lying to him, a figment of his imagination, or a result of his altered personality. So while he knew what he need to do he had no idea how to do it, so he settled for simply keeping an eye open for possibilities and left it at that.

He had continued to work out as he lost himself in his thoughts; multi-tasking is nice sometimes. Naruto was slightly surprised by the fact that he was able to do so much without even a hint of chakra in his body. Still he wasn't complaining…about that. He was however complaining, rather loudly (in his mind as he didn't want to be caught), about the annoyance that floppy fox ears and a tail brought to his workouts. While he could control them almost instinctually, when doing ordinary tasks and a few things like running and climbing, to keep him comfortable, he did not have that advantage when doing sit-ups. He loved his fox appendages most of the time, largely impart due to his mother loving them, but right now he wanted to strangle the giant Fuzzbutt known as the Kyuubi for causing this.

-Line Break-

The trip had been going on for about two and a half weeks now and Naruto was once more forced to sneak out at night to steal some food. He had both underestimated the trip time and forgotten to include the increased consumption that intense workouts brought. It was a good thing he was so good at stealth, and that the crew was rather oblivious, otherwise he would have been caught a long time ago. He just hoped that they would reach land soon; he was kind of tired of being trapped in his, now rather dank, section of the cargo hold.

He had been…creative with his waste disposal. Well he said creative but he had largely forgotten about the problem that would present on a ship he had stowed away on. As such he had just opened up a random cargo box and…utilized the space inside. Good news was that the box was, mostly, tightly sealed and there was much lesser degree of smell seepage than he had expected. Bad news was that he had ruined someone's new furniture. Oh well, there's a price to be paid for everything.

He had, again, reached his hiding spot without being caught and after eating started up his exercise return once more. Thanks to both the food and his workout he was not as twig-like in appearance as before. He was still skinnier than he should be, it hadn't even been a month yet after all, but there was a noticeable improvement. It was about two hours into his workout and the sun was just making its way up in the horizon when he felt it. For the first time in the entire trip the boat had stopped moving, and he assumed that only meant one thing, land.

Thankfully this was something he had planned for, although he only did so after he was on the boat, and thus had a plan to escape unseen from the hold. He had 'found' (spelt accidently created) a hole in the ceiling (he had been hyperactive that day and jumped too high). The hole led to the far end of the crew quarters; luckily the crew size was smaller than what they could be and used that side for storage. That wasn't what was important though, what was, was the window that he was planning on using to make his escape.

Thankfully he knew how to swim from his past life, though it was admittedly much harder to swim with a soggy tail about half the size of leg and about as thick as his thigh, but he managed. The only problem was that his bag wasn't water proof, and while he didn't care that his clothes got wet he did care that his money would. Unfortunately it was a sacrifice he had no choice but to make. He'd just have to find some sooner rather than later now.

Good news was that amongst the clothes he had stolen had been a rather baggy hoody that could cover his ears while also being long enough to hide his tail as well. For some reason nobles had a weird obsession with tight pants so he couldn't hide it in them. Other good news was that the island he had been brought to was not an uninhabited waste land; indeed there was even a rather large city that he was currently walking through. Bad news, there was apparently a rather sizeable marine base in the middle that was rather prominently poking about the other buildings. Where all marine bases so blue?

-Line Break-

Naruto had only spent two weeks in that place before moving on. He had of course robbed the marine base blind without getting caught once. There was no one competent stationed there that would have posed a problem for him even if he had been caught; the highest rank had been a sergeant-major. Besides the food supplies, money and a few slightly higher quality weapons he had stolen he had 'liberated' some useful information.

The information included a map of the East Blue (the ocean he came from and the weakest of the four, not counting the grand line, apparently), a map of the city (which he ignored as he didn't care), some basic training manuals (which were useless to him) and basic weapon guides. The last one was the most useful to him as he had no idea how to use firearms before then. He still didn't like them as he preferred to rely on throwing weapons like shuriken and kunai, but he had yet to even hear of them it was better than nothing.

He had also learned a bit more about the structure of the marines, such as the different ranks and the requirements for them. Apparently the commander of the base was ambitious and was planning on applying for promotion soon. The only thing he really payed attention to was that each rank meant a qualitative increase in strength and that the highest rank he found the requirements for (that of captain) required one to either have a devil fruit or know one of the Rokushiki. He didn't know what either of those entailed but both piqued his interest so he decided to keep on the lookout for more information on them.

That being said he was now looking for a ship that he could leave with, this time not as a stowaway. He had bought a bandanna during his stay and was currently wearing that along with his original green baggy hoody he had stolen (he didn't really like the color but he didn't want to waste money buying new clothes). The reason why he bought a bandanna was to cover his ears as he didn't think many people would be willing to let someone who hid their face in a hood to work on their boat. He didn't really care where the ship he was on was going so as soon as someone accepted his offer of working for his passage he leapt on the chance. Hopefully he could learn a bit about sailing so he wouldn't be stuck relying on others forever.

 **AN: That's the chapter. Everything I write generally has some significance later on in the story. I know last chapter was kind of cliché but it's what I want so I don't really care too much. I wonder how many people will guess as to the reasons behind the Celestial Dragon's actions. One free virtual cookie if you guess right, though the reveal will probably much later in the story.**

 **Anyways thanks for reading,**

 **Ren**


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